Here is a question to ask yourself where you are living from.
“Are you up there performing for the audience, or are you down there being free?”
It points to two very different ways of living.
Performing for the audience means:
- Living for approval rather than conviction.
- Saying what people want to hear instead of what is true.
- Measuring your worth by applause, acceptance, or recognition.
- Wearing masks to avoid rejection.
- Being controlled by the expectations of others.
Being free means:
- Living from your values rather than from people’s opinions.
- Being authentic, even when it costs you.
- Accepting that not everyone will understand or approve of you.
- Responding to life instead of acting out a role.
- Finding your identity in who you are, not in how you are perceived.
Jesus consistently chose freedom over performance. He often disappointed the crowds because He lived to please the Father rather than people.
